Human Polar Bears, Couch Spuds Hail ’94

Human polar bears greeted the New Year with heart-revving dips in icy surf Saturday, but millions of less adventurous people parked it on sofas and curbs to watch strutting Mummers and a stream of football games.

Rhode Island was a virtual hotbed of people braving frostbite by going swimming in freezing temperatures: Rhode Island Sound was the arena for the Polar Bear Plunge; the 6th Annual New Year’s Day Pier Plunge sent people running across Narragansett Beach and into the ocean; Salty Brine Beach at Galilee had a third annual winter swim, and Jamestown called its limb-numbing swim the Penguin Plunge.

Think that’s a passing fad? This is the 75th anniversary year of the Icebergs Athletics Club, which does its New Year’s Day paddling in the Atlantic Ocean surf off New York City’s Coney Island. More than 100 members of that and two other clubs took the plunge Saturday in water that read only in the 30s.

The idea didn’t appeal to everyone. “I’ll take the Caribbean any day,” Lisa Tumminia said as she watched her boyfriend walk into the water.

About 20,000 members of Philadelphia social clubs took their golden slippers to the streets and celebrated the new year in the 94th Mummers Parade of sequins, feathers and marching bands.

“The biggest thrill is to see the smiles on the kids’ faces,” said Carl Searle, a security guard and member of the Oregon Mummers.

The parade started with the “comic clubs” poking fun at President Clinton and other public figures and progressed to the fancy division featuring elaborate mini-floats each powered by a single parader.